100-Year-Old “Everyday” Dress Pictures

Tuesday, August 6, 1912: Ma cut out a dress for me or rather a part of it. When it’s finished I suppose I’ll wear it to school.

Source: Ladies Home Journal (December, 1911)

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Grandma was going to begin her senior year at the end of August. I bet that she wanted to look really nice for this special year.

Did Grandma think that the dress her mother was making for her was stylish? . . .or was it just going to be a run-of-the-mill everyday dress? Did she select the pattern and fabric—or did her mother do it?

Your comments reminds me of how my mother-in-law used to make my son homemade shirts out of cloth remnants when he was small. At the time, it seemed old-fashioned to make the shirts–now I realize how much love she put into those shirts.

Too bad photography was not like it is today, I would love to see her dressed in those beautiful dresses. Even the every day dresses were very elegant. While we are oohing and aahing over the idea of her dress, I am sure to her it was nothing too special. I can’t wait to read about her senior year. Blessings – Patty

I have very few photos of Grandma and her family when she was young. It’s kinds of amazing how we now can easily take so many photos that it’s hard to keep track of them–while a hundred years ago, photos were a rarity.

My Keyes kin write about their mother looking at the magazines of the day, and then cutting out a pattern to match the dress in the pictures. I wonder if Helena and her mother made patterns that way, or did they buy patters– hmmm.

I would like the dresses for today with a shorter length of course. I don’t think it’s too hard for an experienced sewer to make a dress like one seen in a magazine. I am an experienced knitter and I can make most of the things I see in magazines without a pattern 🙂